Odisseus’ Mom

Another record I have and like it a lot is from Maliq & d’essentials,  the 1st album. This very funky and cozy music I found in Disc Tarra store in Plaza Indonesia, February 2005. The first song I heard from this album was when me and my best friend Lulu were in the car riding for home after having our time together for a late lunch, its title is “Sunshine”.    

Sunshine

I got sunshine, shining through my eyes

The love is from above, ‘cause You’re the sunshine of my life

I got sunshine, the love is from above

You gave me with a rush, ‘cause You’re the sunshine of my life

When I’m in doubt, I pray to you

You lead the way to brighter up my day

Day after day, You’ll always there

You show the way to brighter up my day

I got sunshine, I got sunshine

I’m gonna get down, and I’m down for you

I raise my hand, call up Your name

Allahu Akbar, the One above me

I live for you and I’ll die for you

When we took a walk on Thursday evening, I spent some times to check out the lattest music cd and movies dvd on Free Record Shop. I dreamt of having the new cd of Alicia Keys, “Unplugged”, but I also found the complete best collection of Simply Red, the price was on sale, 25 Euro for 3 cds, and we can choose whichever album with yellow tag signed “3 voor 25″. Unfortunately the new album of Alicia Keys was not included on that sale, as well as I didn’t bring enough money to buy the cds I wanted. Ita offered me to use her money first and then I can repay her later. But after taking a few considerations, I decided not to buy the cd at that time, I didn’t want to owe Ita some money again, she had been very generous to us at our trip to Germany on the other day. That’s why Herni gave her a predicate as “funding mother”, since some of us didn’t bring enough cash to pay everything (hotel, food, tickets) in German, Ita with her generousity paid it all for us in advance, and we repaid her later after we got back to Den Haag.

At home, my head was filled with my eager to have the Simply Red cd. I checked my bank account with internet banking, moved some cash from my saving account to personal account so that I would be able to withdraw some cash from the ATM machine. On Friday, after spent hours in class and library I fixed on my decision to buy the cd, took a walk alone from my campus to the record shop. I considered some other cds to complete the offer “3 voor 25″, at last I chose cd album from Joss Stone, The Alan Parson’s Project, and Simply Red. All of the three cds I bought do not dissapoint me as I already figure out how I am going to be very satisfied hearing all those music. Now, I am writing all of these postings accompanied by the voice of Mike Hucknall.

It was Thursday afternoon after the first snowflakes when I decided to message some friends, asked them to hanging out at the centrum enjoying the season. “Hey, it’s Thursday right when the shops, stores, and restaurants open until 9 pm, let’s have a walk and warm meal at the Chinese restaurant at the centrum this evening, relax ourselves, enjoy the winter atmosphere and beautiful lamps there”, my short message reached some friends.

At 4 pm we gathered in front of the campus and took a walk to the centrum. I already had a plan to stop by at the record shop, supermarket, and have a dinner at one of Chinese restaurant in centrum. The four of us (again me, Ita, Herni, and Adrian) walked, talked, and bougt some french fries to accompany our chat. The skies had already turned to a dark night at 5 pm and the weather begun to chilled us more, but the beautiful lamps along the streets and the atmosphere made us a little bit warm, people were spent and enjoyed the time by shopping, walking, and hanging around the cafe.

Ok honey, after thinking for a while I find something quite interesting to be shared with both of you. Last week, perhaps on Wednesday, after finishing my class for that day, maybe it was 6 or 7 pm when I took a walk back to my dorm, I felt a very chilly wheather. I thought it was going to be raining that evening, cause I felt something like water but harder coming from the sky dropped all aroung me, but strangely I didn’t feel wet at all, what I could think at the moment was that I dont’ want to be torched by such a cold weather, I had to reach my dorm as soon as possible.

And when I finally reached the dorm, quickly I ran to reach my door to hide and protect myself in my warm room. And it didn’t take a long time until when the real “rain” was coming down. It was not just water pouring, at least I thought so at that moment because I heard my window was like hit by a bunch of little white colored rocks. But I didn’t think much further that time about what was happened and why the weather was so strange. And around 7.30 pm when my friends came to have a dinner with me, I began to realize what had happened. “Hey, the snow has falling”, my friend was shouting to me at the moment. Suprised by his words, I ran to my window and took a deep notice of what is being happen outside. From my windowpane I saw white snow was falling, burying my window pane with its flakes. It was the first snow I have ever feel, touch, and see, and also the first snow falling at this season.

I ran quickly to my neighbor Mirna, and told her that the first snow has falling. I didn’t care if somebody would call me “norak” at that time because it was my first experience to be able to see and touch the thin snow flakes. My neighbor Mirna is Indonesian but already spent 5 years living in Australia, I thought that she had had experience with touching and seeing the snow comes down, but I was wrong, she was also as suprised as I was at the moment and suddenly she was also running outside the kitchen to catch the falling snow, when I told her about what happened.

I also sent sms to your daddy that the snow has falling, and he replied that perhaps the first snow usually called by the snowflakes. And he asked me to tell him about this snowflakes. Well, then here is my story. At that night, the four of us had a dinner in our kitchen, shared our stories, and enjoyed the first snowflakes for this season.

Assalamu’alaikum wr. wb.

Dear Odisseus, my dear soleh boy. I haven’t write for you for more than a week. Your daddy keeps asking me almost everyday, “Why there is no blog updated?”. I know that your daddy has already being addicted reading my blog, just to keep him in touch with everything I do here. I told him in my sms that I it is not because I lose my will to keep writing in–especially–English, I am tired to tell both of you about everything, or I am bored telling all activities I have here. But the main reason is that I feel I’m running out of idea to write, it’s mostly because I begin to find out that live is too boring here. There are only class and class everyday.

In my mind actually I have a lot of moments that I think would be interesting to be shared with both you, like my promise to your dad Ody, that I will continue writing after finding some interesting moments precious enough to be shared, but now I already forget what exactly what I’am going share and write here.    

After finishing our half day trip in Koln, based on our first plan, we went back to the Koln central station and took a train to go to Dusseldorf. It took about 1,5 hour to reach this city by train from Koln. Like Koln, Dusseldorf is also cross by Rheine River. The view in Dusseldorf was not dissapointing us. Germany is much more interesting in panorama view than Netherlands and the price here is also much cheaper, perhaps that is one reason why Netherlands is very quiet and boring in holidays and also why some of it’s population prefer to spend weekends and holidays abroad.

We had a quite cheap lunch in Turk’s halal restoran–based on information given by two Indonesians students in German we met at the train, we ordered grilled chicken with french fries and only cost 2,75 Eur. We continued our trip to the old side of the town named something (sorry to forget about the first name)-Heinrich-Allen, by underground train. It only took about 5-10 minutes ride from Dusseldorf central station to reach this old and tourist destination spot. We also had a chance to enjoy two scopes of Haagen-Dazs ice cream there. In Germany, the home of Haagen-Dazs ice cream, there are only 4 authorized outlets: in Berlin, Muenchen, Koln-Dusseldorf, and Dortmund. Here is some pictures that I ‘d like to share.

Dear my soleh boy Odisseus and his daddy, I still have some stories and photos that I’d really like to share with you both. But since my daily lecture schedule has already begun this Monday, I have to stop my story for a while to be able to concentrate with my readings and classes.

Well, the last time I told you about our city trip on Maastricht. After finishing day trip on Maasmachelen (Belgium) and Maastricht (Netherlands), we took a bus number 420 that went to Aachen, a little southern city in Germany. We arrived there at 7 pm and continued our trip to Koln by taking train. In Germany transportation cost is quite very cheap comparing with Netherlands, it only cost about 6 Eur per person for one daily weekend ticket. This weekend ticket is valid to be used one whole day from 9 am until 3 am one day after and could be used to take every bus and train (except ICE (InterCity Express)–the premium German train) in all across Germany. We can buy this ticket on the train station, one ticket could be used for 5 people and it cost 29 Eur. But this price only valid on fall season, I don’t know how much the price would be on another season.

We arrived in Koln at 8 pm. The weather was very cold at that time. But the picturesque view of Koln Dom (Cathedral) in the night–which is only a few step taking from the Koln Central  Station–really took our breath away. We took some picture there before we went to our hostel. The Koln Dom stands just by the side of Rheine River, was first built in 11th century and taking each structure during severla centuries atferwards by donation of some ancient kings. Its architecture and structure is really amazingly huge and complicated, we could only imagine how and for how long they built such an enormous building. During the Second World War this landmark was half ruined and the West-Germany government put some efforts to restorate it. 

We spent one night and a half day in Koln. In the morning we took a walk tour in the Dom, sightsee in the Rheine River and Koln Zentrum. Unfortunately, I could not attach some good-quality-pictures here since my friend Adrian who has the well performing digital camera and taking most of our photos hasn’t send me the file yet.  

 The Dom (Cathedral) in Koln, Germany, at night.   Me in front of one the Dom.

Assalamu’alaikum wr. wb.

Dearest Ody, my sholeh boy. I really miss you and I think these days are my limit that I could stand without be able to see and watch you growing.

Here are some mails dan messages that I received few weeks ago, telling me how your condition is and how you already growing since last time I left you at home.

From Tante Ratri

Thursday, November 10, 2005 11:14 AM: “Odi sekarang lagi seneng teriak-teriak sampe kuping kita pengeng. Kalo lagi BAB dicebokin sambil main air ngocehnya panjang banget. Odi bulet & gendut semua orang yang lihat bilang gitu. Pak Santoso no 12 panggil Odi bunder. Hobinya sama dengan Bagus waktu kecil mainan sapu ijuk/lidi. Odi dijulukin “pendekar sapu lidi”. Lebaran lihat makanan di toples semua diminta. Sekarang kalo ditanya kepedesan gimana? Dia ekspresinya bilang “hoa,hoa” kayak orang kepedesan. Dia kalo jalan digandeng pakai satu tangan bisa jalan, tapi kalo dilepas sama sekali gak mau, mungkin takut. Setiap habis minum susu/makan kalo habis Odi tepuk tangan. Kali berat badannya kayaknya 10,5-11kg tapi kalo tinggi tetap 75 cm. Kita kalo lagi becanda wanti-wanti ke Odi “tumbuhnya jangan perutnya aja yang ke depan tapi ke atas dong”, Odi cuma bilang “aahh”. Kalo kata Ibu bodinya Odi mirip banget sama Ayahnya. Dah dulu ya.”   

26/10/2006 21:59: “Ody udah tidur. Tadi 3 kali tidur nggak digendong, dinyanyiin aja dan baca doa. Sebelum tidur guling-guling dulu, kita ditendang dan dicakar tapi Ody ketawa-tawa. Ody udah berat, Ibu kalo gendong lama-lama suka pegel. Ampun deh si Ody.”

25/10/2005 17:55: “Ody lagi makan. Ody kalo dibacain buku cerita sama kita suka kabur, maunya mainan yang lain, tapi tadi dibacain sama Ayahnya anteng. Berdoa suruh angkat tangan malah langsung tiduran. Kemarin Ibu berdoa, Ody disuruh bilang “amin” malah bilang “alah” sambil balik badan mainan bantal.”

22/10/2005 13:22: “Ody habis makan gw tanya udah kenyang belum? Eh jawabnya sambil geleng-geleng bilang nggak. Padahal makannya sayur semangkok dan nasi sepiring. Kalo disodorin makanan apa aja mulutnya mangap. Volume perutnya gede ya.”

22/10/2005 00:23: “Ody sekarang lagi tidur nyenyak. Punggungnya ga merah lagi, tapi bekas gigitan nyamuk/semut tetep bentol gede. Kalo lagi manja ngerengek terus minta gendong. Dia kalo habis dibotakin ketawanya lebar gak ada suaranya.” 

20/10/2005 17:52: “Lo belum liat fotonya Ody yang baru ya? Pake baju merah, topi merah dan kacamata. Putih kaya bule. Kata Ibu senyumnya menggoda. Kayaknya kalo diseriusin latihan, 1/2 minggu lagi bisa jalan. Lebaran mau foto Ody lagi.”

20/10/2005 13:56: “Ody lagi tidur siang. Dia udah bisa jalan 2-3 langkah ga dipegangin, terus nomplok ke kita. Tadi dititah semangat banget. Kalo capek, Ody bilang “huh”.”

19/10/2005 14:56: “Tadi Ody dikasih kolak di gelas, diobok-obok dan dikocok-kocok pake sendok. Melon dan pepaya diremes. Tapi kalo makan nasi selalu disuapin daripada acak-acakan dan gak jadi makan.”

Dear readers, sorry to interrupt you all reading my story about my holiday, but I just want to share this energetic support I received from my husband. He has been my teacher, my leader, my lover and much more that I probably could mention and aware. My husband then will call me…, “Hmmm… woman….”

Dwi Abriningrum wrote:

Can you imagine? Among hundreds of ISS new students, I have to joint special guidance and assistance in Academic Skills? Should I be embarrassed or should I be honored with this? I don’t have and don’t know anything to say about this. Please don’t be embarrassed by your wife stupidity in English and Academic Skills.

Wassalam,

Endah

Maddaremmeng Panennungi

On Thursday, November 03, 2005 at 5:46 PM +0100 wrote:

Dear Deanis,

It is great to have an opportunity to increase your academic skill…never feel offended…each one should learn to become better…ok tjes…just do it!

Regard

m

Dwi Abriningrum wrote:

Dear honey,

Thanks for your positive thinking and support. Maybe deep down in your  heart you still have some embarrassment about your stupid wife, it’s ok for  me if you really do. I will try my best, beside all that embarrassment that I feel for this, I still have to thank God for this “special” opportunity and  your and our son support. It really means a lot to me. So many thanks for both of you.

With warm kisses and hugs,

Endah in Haagsche

Maddaremmeng Panennungi

On Friday, November 04, 2005 at 1:15 PM +0100 wrote:

Dear Ody’s Mom,

I really proud of you and I never think you are stupid. The truth is you are smarter than me actually :). Ody’s mom always could achieve a better one. I meet a lot of people who has a worse English than you, including myself. Many famous people also have a poor English than you have. The only thing we could do is learning and learning. You have been given a good opportunity of doing this and I think it is a great gift! You will do it as best as you could do!

Best Regard

Ody and Ody’s Dad

Here are some photos that I can catch when we joined the city tour on Maastricht by tram.

 The backyard of the old chapel in Maastricht

 The statue of Maastricht’s founding father. This man (unfortunately I forgot the name )composed the Maastricht anthem and taught literature.

 One of Maastricht great wall. This wall used to protect this region from the enemy. Now, right in front of this wall there stand the University of Maastricht building.

 Cracked wall, this caused by the second world war. Now the building become one of the official office in Maastricht (again, I forgot the name).

 One of the historical city spot (I am sorry again that I forgot what was this place used to be)

 Old chapel used to be to place to do some ancient seremonial things.